Unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro to Ship Late January

While .98-inches thick and 6.6 pounds, this 17-inch, stretch MacBook Pro is menacing when open. Hide the iBooks.

The 17-inch MacBook Pro finally got its aluminum update, similar to the rest of last year's MacBook Pro. Relative to those laptops, the revision is minor, but it's a significant step up from the previous 17-inch model. Apple is touting its battery technology as one of the headlining changes, claiming it'll get 8 hours of life with the integrated 9400M graphics processor or 7 hours of life with the more powerful 9600 GT. The new laptop will ship in late January.

Over its lifetime, Apple says that the battery will last three times longer, able to cycle 1,000 recharges before needing to be replaced. An integrated chip will monitor the power--and recharging--of individual cells in the battery, helping to boost this overall performance. The battery is larger than most others, and it's permanently embedded in the laptop, like the MacBook Air.

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The other 1,920 by 1,200-pixel, 17-inch MacBook Pro specs match the rest of Apple's Pro laptops. Its display includes the glossy front glass of those siblings, however, Apple will also sell a matte configuration. The MacBook Pro also features a multi-touch, glass trackpad; an LED, backlit display; a Mini Display Port; a Magsafe power connector; three USB port; a FireWire 800 port; gigabit Ethernet; audio in and out; an optional, 265GB solid-state drive; up to 8GB RAM; and more.

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Apple will offer it in one base configuration with a 2.66GHz Intel Core Duo processor, 4GB RAM, and a 320GB hard drive for $2,799. Online buyers can customize it with any of its variable features, such as the processor speed and hard drive